Rodon, NC State roll over Tar Heels in College World Series

Carlos Rodon.
Carlos Rodon.
NC State All-America pitcher Carlos Rodon struck out eight and kept the Tar Heels scoreless for eight innings as the Wolfpack rolled to an 8-1 victory over Carolina in the teams’ first game of the 2013 College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

“You know, this is the College World Series,” Rodon said. “It doesn’t get any better than this, so why not bring your A game?”

Tar Heel Chaz Frank said Rodon really didn’t do anything different than he usually does. “He picks up his game even more when he plays us,” he said.

“Complete dominance,” UNC coach Mike Fox said of Rodon. “He was too good for us today.”

It was the fifth time Rodon has pitched against the Heels in the past two seasons. While he’s always pitched well, it was only the second win he’s posted against Carolina. In the past, the Tar Heels have managed to get into the State bullpen and come back for the victory.

This time Rodon went the distance.

“He had everything working,” said UNC’s Brian Holberton, who had two of the Heels’ five hits.

On the other hand, Ken Emanuel lasted less than three innings for the Tar Heels.

With two outs, State’s Tarran Senay singled in lead-off batter Trea Turner, who had walked, to put the Wolfpack up 1-0 in the first inning.

“I had two strikes on him and I wanted to go outside,” Emanuel said. “I did but I needed a couple of inches more to get the out instead of him getting the cap on it for a hit.”

It might be a game of inches but the Wolfpack opened the game up by a mile in the third inning. State’s Grant Clyde singled in Brett Austin, who had doubled, to put the Wolfpack up 2-0. Then, Brett Williams doubled down the left field corner to drive in another run to make it 3-0.
State’s Bryan Adametz singled in a run and, after Emanuel was pulled, UNC reliever Chris McCue gave up an RBI-single to Logan Ratledge which made it 5-0.

With Rodon dealing on the mound, the 5-0 lead seemed insurmountable and it was.
“Anytime you’re facing Carlos Rodon, getting behind early is one of the worst things you can do,” Coach Fox said.

Carolina didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning and didn’t get a run until the ninth when Landon Lassiter doubled in the right-center gap to score Frank.

State coach Elliott Avent said Rodon is a better person than he is a ballplayer. “He’s one of the best teammates on this team, and we have a lot of great teammates,” he said. “He just happens to have a powerful left arm and he’s learned how to control the emotional side of the game and channel the emotional side of the game.”

UNC faces an elimination game Tuesday at 3 p.m. against the loser of UCLA-LSU, the Tar Heels remain confident.
“This team has played with a lot of fight all year,” Frank said. “We haven’t lost two in row all year and we don’t plan on losing Tuesday either.”

Box score

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